The FASFA application asks for expected grade (freshman, sophomore, junior etc) at the start of the 2019 year, I am going to be right on the edge of sophomore and junior for fall quarter 2019. (the school’s summer quarter starts in June, and 45 credits is a “year” at this school) Basically it hinges on a couple spring/summer sophomore classes that are highly dependent on both weather and equipment availability.
Can I upgrade midway through the FASFA year and get a bump from the sophomore to junior Stafford loan limits, if I start Fall quarter with under 90 credits and end with more than 90? Has anybody actually done this? Should I put Junior on the application and change to sophomore later if the class is delayed or the other way around?
Simply by being on target to graduate in 2.5 years rather than 4, I won’t be able to even apply for a full year of pell grant and stafford loans. (unless i misread and the yearly caps are really for each “year” of credits[45 at this school]) My program has very high equipment/materials fees, above the aggregate cap, but each quarter i delay graduating is at least $10k in lost income so stretching out the program really doesn’t make sense if i can avoid it. And current banking regs have dried up most private loan options for independent students, …no job because full time student so can’t meet the legal debt-income ratio regardless of collateral and credit rating… catch 22 stuff.
It seems like it would be far simpler in the larger picture if Stafford loans were managed strictly based on credit count, in a continuous rolling type of system, why do they even bother with all the arbitrary fixed year business? (Not grants, I get that grants need to fit into a yearly budgeting scheme. Unsub loans are the animal in question.)
Anyway stop myself rambling on any more here, the main question is how do I handle the grade level issue.
Yes, you can. My daughter was ‘off’ by a semester, so in the fall got the sophomore level of loan and in the spring got the jr/sr level. Pell grant doesn’t care what level you are, as long as you are an undergrad. You can now get Pell for the summer too.
If you indicate you will be a junior but are NOT a junior by the start of the quarter, the school will change your status. Also, you might not need all 45 credits to be considered the next level. I think at daughter’s semester school, more than 26 credits made one a sophomore.
Thats good news. My numbers here are based on 2018-19 independent student loan limit, which is 10500 for 2nd year and 12500 3rd year. Was her spring bump prorated like 5250 in fall and 6250 spring[total 11500] or did it allow her to hit the full 3rd year cap [eg 5250fall+7250spring=12500]? Not a huge difference but my budget may be a close shave.
I read somewhere(Official documents, not a blog. Though it was months ago.) that schools set their own credit requirements for a year and this is what financial aid acknowledges, as long as they meet or exceed FAFSA minimums. I recall the FAFSA minimum that a school may set for a 3 quarter year is 36 and for 2 semester year is 24, (based on the 12 credits needed for “full time”) but if the school program says 45 quarter credits per year then 45 is what they use. Likely because some schools may have very non standard schedules or rolling enrollment in some programs.
My school also divides the program into an associate level with 90 credits minimum, and when that is complete you are accepted into the bachelor program(another 90-100 credits). Two degrees in one, such a bargain! (for the low price of $90K at a public community college)
You can get the bump midyear, but not every student qualifies … the budget has to be recalculated & there has to be enough room to add the additional $2,000 in that semester. For most students, there will be room - but for some, they cannot get the full $2,000 in that single semester. If the budget doesn’t support the full amount, you’ll get whatever the budget supports. If you then take summer classes in a trailer year (for example, summer 2019 is part of the 2018-2019 award year), you can get the rest of the $2,000 in summer (as long as you are at least half time).